stumped.. faulty switch? virus?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Paul
  • Start date Start date
P

Paul

Ok folks, this one has got me stumped.

a couple of evenings ago, my home pc, running xp PRO with SP1 and all the
hot fixes up to SP2, started to run very slowly. further investigation
revealed the cpu to be working at above 50% constantly, even with no windows
open.

after speaking to a knowledgable friend of mine, he advised he had had a
similar problem on the weekend, and said it was a virus. he had cured it by
downloading CA mytrust virus scanner and removing the virus.

I did same, but the problem did not abate. after trying alot of different
things, I reformatted my hard drive and reinstalled xp by booting from the
xp cd and installing a fresh copy with the option of formatting the hard
drive selected.

This did not fix the problem!!!

I have identified if I turn off my 5 port switch hub, the cpu returns to
0-1% load. as soon as I plug in the switch again, it jumps straight back up
to 50% use. there are no other pc's turned on that are plugged into this
switch besides my pc. the only other computer on the network is not turned
on. the lights on the switch report constant traiffic on all ports.

this is a bizzare problem. any help appreciated.

the hard drive on the other pc on the network was recently reformatted and
the drivers for the motherboard and hence the onboard lan have not been
loaded yet. could this be the problem?
 
Paul said:
Ok folks, this one has got me stumped.

a couple of evenings ago, my home pc, running xp PRO with SP1 and all the
hot fixes up to SP2, started to run very slowly. further investigation
revealed the cpu to be working at above 50% constantly, even with no windows
open.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a virus... If your hub is showing traffic then something must be
happening in the background.

What does the hub do when this PC is off and the other PC is on?

Did you scan ALL your PC's?

If you have broadband then you should have a hardware router/firewall
(they're cheap) between your modem and your network.
 
Ok folks, this one has got me stumped.

a couple of evenings ago, my home pc, running xp PRO with SP1 and all the
hot fixes up to SP2, started to run very slowly. further investigation
revealed the cpu to be working at above 50% constantly, even with no windows
open.
Click to expand...

At that point it would be (still is?) good to open task
manager and see what's taking up the CPU, or at least check,
it might be something noticable.
Also you might do file searches for files created or
modified just prior to, when this problem started.

after speaking to a knowledgable friend of mine, he advised he had had a
similar problem on the weekend, and said it was a virus. he had cured it by
downloading CA mytrust virus scanner and removing the virus.

I did same, but the problem did not abate.
Click to expand...

Did it find anything though (the virus scanner that is)?
Always check with multiple virus scanners _IF_ you still
suspect infection.

after trying alot of different
things, I reformatted my hard drive and reinstalled xp by booting from the
xp cd and installing a fresh copy with the option of formatting the hard
drive selected.

This did not fix the problem!!!
Click to expand...

Do you have any other networked PCs, or another avenue on
which (if it were a virus) it might've spread and then
returned?

I have identified if I turn off my 5 port switch hub, the cpu returns to
0-1% load. as soon as I plug in the switch again, it jumps straight back up
to 50% use. there are no other pc's turned on that are plugged into this
switch besides my pc. the only other computer on the network is not turned
on. the lights on the switch report constant traiffic on all ports.
Click to expand...

Don't just turn them off, unplug the other systems from the
switch. Could be the switch is bad, if possible try direct
link between the problem PC and another, using crossover
cable as/if needed.

Also try connecting a different PC to that switch port used
by the "problem" PC to see if problem is replicated on the
other PC. You might even switch the NICs in this scenario
too.
this is a bizzare problem. any help appreciated.

the hard drive on the other pc on the network was recently reformatted and
the drivers for the motherboard and hence the onboard lan have not been
loaded yet. could this be the problem?
Click to expand...

It shouldn't be, but you may as well install the drivers, no
point to having it on the LAN otherwise... but then again
it might be wise to keep all systems disconnected from LAN
till you get this sorted out, or at least keep them isolated
from each other since you may need one connected for WAN
access.
 
Paul said:
Ok folks, this one has got me stumped.

a couple of evenings ago, my home pc, running xp PRO with SP1 and all the
hot fixes up to SP2, started to run very slowly. further investigation
revealed the cpu to be working at above 50% constantly, even with no windows
open.

after speaking to a knowledgable friend of mine, he advised he had had a
similar problem on the weekend, and said it was a virus. he had cured it by
downloading CA mytrust virus scanner and removing the virus.

I did same, but the problem did not abate. after trying alot of different
things, I reformatted my hard drive and reinstalled xp by booting from the
xp cd and installing a fresh copy with the option of formatting the hard
drive selected.

This did not fix the problem!!!
Click to expand...
....<snip>....

Did you clear the BIOS ? I don't know much about CMOS viruses, so I'll
leave it to the experts to say if they could be causing this.
Personally, when I want to do a really clean install, I clear the CMOS
just before and after formatting the HDD.
 
On 11 Nov 2004 09:08:48 -0800, (e-mail address removed) (Zotin
Khuma) wrote:

I don't know much about CMOS viruses, so I'll
leave it to the experts to say if they could be causing this.
Click to expand...


No.
 
Did you clear the BIOS ? I don't know much about CMOS viruses, so I'll
leave it to the experts to say if they could be causing this.
Personally, when I want to do a really clean install, I clear the CMOS
just before and after formatting the HDD.
Click to expand...

CMOS virii just scramble the BIOS settings so the machine doesn't start
properly. You can't get infected from something in the BIOS settings.

....now it's possible that a virus could write itself into your BIOS, like a
BIOS flash upgrade would. This would have the virus start at each boot, but
I don't know of any that actually do this. It wouldn't be easy as each BIOS
is different.
 
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